Rambus raises quarterly revenue outlook, shares jump

Rambus Inc raised its fourth-quarter revenue outlook, despite losing a major lawsuit late last year, sending its shares up 10 percent in early trading Tuesday.

The technology licensing company said it expects to report fourth-quarter revenue that is well above its previously announced target.

Rambus said it anticipates revenue of about $83 million, compared with its previously announced target range of $66 million to $71 million.

The two analysts who follow Rambus, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, were on average expecting $69 million in revenue for the three-month period.

The company signed a patent licensing deal with Broadcom Inc last month, its latest in a string of deals.

The better-than-expected revenue likely came from the Broadcom deal as well as another big customer win that the company had announced around the time of its last earnings report, BWS Financial analyst Hamed Khorsand said.

Rambus' investors welcomed the news, especially as the company has lost about 60 percent of its market value since November, when it lost a $4 billion antitrust lawsuit against Micron Technology Inc and Hynix Semiconductor Inc.

That decision was a massive blow to Rambus -- which could have sought triple damages under state antitrust laws -- after years of aggressive, and often successful, litigation.

The company's shares rose 78 cents, or some 10 percent, to $8.33 in morning trading on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Himank Sharma in Bangalore and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Maureen Bavdek)